New Survey Says Parents Are Still Worried About Introducing Peanuts Too Early. When is the Right Time?

Serve up peanut butter to your baby by the spoonful because it prevents allergies? Avoid it altogether because it has the opposite effect? If you’re among the many parents who are confused about the recommendations on peanuts and allergies, you’re not alone: A new study has found that most parents are still skipping the peanuts with their little ones, despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) advice to introduce peanuts often and early.

The history on peanut recommendations

Food allergies in children have been on the rise in recent years. A 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 5.1 percent of kids suffer from peanut allergies, up from 3.4 percent in 1997. That may be, in part, thanks to what appears to be a well-intentioned but flawed policy on introducing peanuts to babies.

Starting in 2000, the AAP began recommending that parents avoid serving their kids peanuts until they were 3 years old to prevent allergies. Over time, however, they found that the number of kids with peanut allergies was actually increasing, leading researchers to challenge and begin debunking this assumption.

In 2008, the AAP rescinded their policy and began recommending that parents introduce peanut butter at the same time as other foods, sometime between 4 and 11 months. Around the same time, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) began working on new research and policies around the prevention of food allergies. But many doctors continued to recommend that parents wait until babies turned 1 to serve up peanut butter, adding to parents’ confusion.

A groundbreaking 2015 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine finally put the debate to rest, finding that introducing peanuts by the age of 6 months significantly decreased the likelihood that kids at high risk would develop a peanut allergy by their fifth birthday — 13.7 percent in the group of babies that were initially not allergic to nuts and avoided them versus 1.9 percent in the early introduction group. Other research around the same time found that avoiding peanuts in babies whose family had a history of allergies actually increased the odds that an infant would eventually be allergic to peanuts.

These and other findings led the NIAID to confirm the AAP’s policy that it’s safe to feed your baby peanut butter at a young age – and doing so may actually help prevent allergies later on. Today, doctors recommend that parents introduce peanuts to their babies between 4 to 6 months of age.

What the new study looked at

The new study, published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, was led by led by Matthew Greenhawt, chair of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Food Allergy Committee. The study surveyed a nationally-representative sample of 1,000 expecting women and 1,000 parents (mostly moms) with babies under the age of 1 year old.

What it found

Researchers found that a majority of parents were not introducing peanuts to their babies at the recommended 4 to 6 months of age. Among the respondents, about a third had no or little awareness of the new peanut guidelines. While about half felt timing of introducing peanuts was important for a child’s chances of developing a food allergy, nearly two-thirds were not concerned about their kids developing a food allergy.

When it came time to start spooning up peanut butter to their babies, only 31 percent of parents were open to starting before or around the time their babies reached 6 months of age; just 40 percent were willing to introduce peanuts when their babies were 11 months old. At the same time, 60 percent of parents said they served their baby eggs, another potentially allergenic food, before the recommended age of 8 months. Meanwhile, only 49 percent of the respondents were willing to allow their child to be skin tested for peanut allergies, and just 44 percent were open to trying an oral food challenge before their babies’ first birthdays.

“Food allergies are scary, so it’s understandable that parents would hesitate to introduce a food they might see as dangerous,” said allergist Edmond Chan, a co-author of the paper, in a statement. “The new guidelines are a breakthrough for preventing [a] peanut allergy. But we’re still working on helping parents and pediatricians understand how important the guidelines are for preventing peanut allergies.”

What this means for you

If you’re still a bit anxious about starting your baby on peanuts at an early age, you’re certainly not alone. But remember: doing so may actually decrease the likelihood that he or she will eventually develop allergies. So talk to your doctor about what’s right for your little one.

When you do introduce peanuts, stick to peanut butter (never the nuts themselves) to prevent choking risk. Always introduce new foods at home, so you can keep a close eye out for an allergic reaction in the hours after mealtime. If you spot any signs of a food allergy, including hives, itchy rashes, watery eyes, swelling lips or tongue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or trouble breathing, call your doctor or head to the ER right away. You can also talk to your doctor about performing a blood test or a skin-prick test if you’re especially concerned about your baby’s risk of food allergies (because, say, you or partner suffers from them).